The United States and its allies should form a coalition that can be a sort of NATO to counter China's economic coercion with a unified stance, Washington's envoy to Japan said in an opinion piece published Wednesday.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said in an article for The Wall Street Journal that the administration of President Joe Biden has succeeded in expanding multilateral security partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region and now is the time to consider adding new economic measures against China.
One idea could be such a trade-defense coalition, Emanuel said, and for that to be effective, he suggested it "would need the economic equivalent of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Article 5 -- an attack on one is an attack on all -- at its core."
Emanuel said countries such as Australia, which had to grapple with higher tariffs imposed by China after calling for an independent probe into the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, have provided valuable lessons.
He suggested the importance of like-minded countries working even more closely, given that Australia curbed its economic reliance on China by expanding exports to other markets with the help of its network of allies and making it possible for Canberra to eventually force Beijing to back down.
He said the United States "must now further integrate economic statecraft into its wider strategic latticework architecture."
His proposals come as Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's idea of creating a NATO-like collective defense architecture in Asia has grabbed headlines.
The ambassador, known for his tough stance on China, was chief of staff to former President Barack Obama between 2009 and 2010, and speculation is rife that he will assume a key post if Vice President Kamala Harris wins November's presidential election.
While acknowledging the need to better deal with growing threats from China, North Korea and Russia, many officials in Tokyo and Washington, as well as in other Asian capitals, view Ishiba's concept as unrealistic.
Ishiba has also played down the idea since becoming Japan's prime minister on Oct 1.
© KYODO
8 Comments
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TaiwanIsNotChina
There should definitely be a million analysts going over the data on China's activities. No Chinese loan should be a secret to the US.
stormcrow
Spot on!
China is to Asia what Russia is to Europe.
Fos
This guy has tried hard to “mean something” on a local stage after the disasters he made in Chicago as a Mayor, and was offered a minor job in Asia from Biden, and all he is doing is provoking China just to be on a front page. Utterly ridiculous. Could not even finish the article.
The US administration is to the world what Israel is to the Middle East: a destabilizing power.
deanzaZZR
So says the representative of the country that wrote the book on economic coercion with the use of tariffs, sanctions and bans.
fallaffel
It's an interesting idea.
There needs to be some way for countries to show their anger against others in a non-violent way, and if you take away the ability to impose tariffs, etc., I don't know what would substitute them.
Blacklabel
This goofball would be in the Cabinet if Harris was winning the election.
no thanks.
KarlCRJP
One can only imagine the billions US arms dealers will make from these deals...
Sanjinosebleed
Send him back!